Bailey's Prairie, TX
by Marjory Stewart-Baxter
Summary: Bella works as a waitress at small town bar with her closest friends. One night after a very dangerous close call, she finds out how one of her friends truly feels about her. One shot for now, but could easily be extended if there is enough interest. AU/AH/OS


Saturday night. It was going to be crazy, but man, it was great money. It was only 8:00 and the place was already filling up. I glanced over at Jasper running the bar. He was shameless, grinning at all those women with _that_ smile, he would easily make several hundred dollars by midnight, and this was by no means a high class joint.

The Junction was a little old place on the outskirts of town, and while we didn't cater to the rich and famous, we served the fun and rowdy. My job was entertaining, to say the least. Monday through Wednesdays wasn't hardly worth the money to show up, but Thursdays through Saturdays definitely made up for it. We could probably all hold our own, working a place in downtown Houston, but we were all pretty satisfied here. Everyone got along really well, most of us had known each other for years.

I watched as Jasper moved so easily behind the bar, which was around 4 deep by now, but it never mattered how busy it got. He could do this in his sleep. He was laughing and talking easily with the patrons, he was a natural. Men and women both liked him. Men for the camaraderie, and women, well, you could just look at him and know why the women liked him. Very few people _didn't_ like Jasper.

I made my rounds to all the tables, taking drink orders and a few appetizer orders, and wound my way back to the bar. As soon as Jasper saw me he locked eyes and made his way over. I both loved and hated the way he affected me. I rolled my eyes and smirked at him.

"Here you go cowboy." I said as I handed him the stack of orders I had collected. He snatched them from me without taking his eyes from me, trying to look all seductive, and, unfortunately for me, doing a pretty good job at it. I rolled my eyes and walked away, and heard him laughing lightly as he went back to making drinks.

We had a lot of fun going back and forth with each other like that. Him trying to fluster me, and me acting like I could care less. There had been a few nights where we had both come close to breaking and giving in to each other, but for the most part we pretty much stuck to our little game. It wouldn't take much for our friendship to get 'complicated', but for now, I was happy just having fun. It made it more interesting. Besides,with our line of work it was best to portray as much of a single attitude as we could. That brought the best tips.

Rose had been struggling a bit with this. Not that her waiting skills had suffered since she became officially 'attached', she could still flirt her way to a nice tip, no problem. It was Emmett that was her problem.

I headed into the back to give Emmett his little stack of orders.

"How is it out there?" He asked as he dropped the fry basket.

"Fine. It's only eight. You usually don't start asking til around ten." I joked with him. Both Rose and I gave him a hard time about being so protective. It was his nature though, he was more of a bouncer than a cook. He rolled his eyes and smirked.

"My bad, I'll try to stick to the schedule." I nudged him with my elbow and grinned before leaving him to it to make my rounds again.

I headed back to the bar to pick up my drinks, Jasper was still working on the last few.

"C'mon now Whitlock, you're slacking over here." I joked with him lightly.

"Easy there cowgirl," he said bringing the last drinks over to my tray. "I'm having to beat them off over here with a stick!" He joked back. I just rolled my eyes and grinned and made my deliveries, stopping in the back to pick up appetizers. Once my tray was empty again, I started all over, making rounds, taking orders, etc.

It was about 12:15 and I had just started my rounding my tables for probably the eighteenth time that night. Before I made it around to the third table, I heard them. I looked toward the back, a bunch of guys sitting at one of the tables, plenty rowdy. I cringed since it was my section, took a deep breath, and headed back. I got the distinct feeling this wouldn't be a good table to pull my 'sweet and innocent act' with.

"What'll it be." I said in my most bored tone, trying to not even making eye contact. Some tables you just knew had the potential to be trouble, so you just did what you could to stay as low under their radar as possible. That meant absolutely no tip-fishing. They started spouting out orders, mostly beers, a couple hard drinks. One of the hard drinkers just kept staring at me. His buddies were joking around with each other, not really noticing me much, but he wouldn't look away. And it was not flattering. He looked like a lion eyeing a fat, juicy antelope. Eww. I turned away as soon as they were done and got away as fast as possible. Continued with the rest of the tables, making sure to make absolutely no eye contact toward the back. I don't know if it was my imagination or not, but it was like I could _feel_ him staring at me. Ick.

Twenty more minutes I was back at the bar. Ah, Jasper. I felt better just seeing his smile, only this time, he wasn't smiling. I handed him the orders, but as he took them, he held onto my hand and leaned down to my ear.

I shivered at his proximity and his breath on my ear.

"I don't like them." He said simply, and backed away keeping my eye contact. He didn't motion toward them, but I knew _exactly_ who he was talking about. There was no humor or teasing behind this, he was very serious, which terrified me. Not that _he_ scared me, but the fact that something bothered him this much. I wanted to ask him more, but he was slammed and went back to making drinks. Jasper was almost always happy, always smiling. I had only seen him serious a handful of time, and angry only once. Like I said, I was never actually afraid of him, but I have no doubt if I was ever faced with his ire, I would piss myself like nervous puppy. Pretty sure anyone else would too. Emmett nearly did the day Jasper found out he was sleeping with his sister. Nope, that wasn't a good day. Or week. He's ok now of course, but I saw a side of Jasper that day that I had never seen before. He was definitely the silent but deadly type. Emmett told me he got like that one other time, but it was with a customer here. He wouldn't give me specifics, just that Jasper could be one scary dude when you really pissed him off. And his face was reminding me of that day with Emmett. I headed to the back.

"Hey Em, here's your orders."

"Kay. I haven't seen Rosie through here in a bit. Everything alright out there?"

"Actually.." I started, and he stopped to look at me. I hated to bring it up, I didn't want to be a baby about it, I mean sloppy drunks were the norm around here, but Jasper's reaction made me take the situation a little more serious than normal. "Umm, I've got a table, and it doesn't seem any worse than any other drunk table I've had before, but Jasper seems a little on edge." He understood perfectly what I meant. He left to go peek out the door, and cursed under his breath when he spied the table.

"Why don't you let me handle drinks the rest of the night and you work back here. There isn't much left to do, they'll probably just be a couple more orders before you have to clean up."

"What? I don't understand, what is going on?" I was really trying to be patient, but I honestly couldn't remember the last time someone told me what to do. Emmett didn't very often throw the whole 'big brother' thing in my face, but I had a feeling that was coming next.

"Just please trust me. This isn't just some sloppy drunk. This…..is an exception."

_Thanks for vaguing it up there for me._ Just then Rose came busting through.

"Shew, I'll be glad when tonight's over, they've been running me around like crazy out there. Wait, what's going on?" She stopped when she noticed Emmett's serious face.

"Just a trouble table." Emmett grumbled.

"Well, I tell you what," I rounded on Emmett, "_you_ take care of them, and I'll handle the rest of my tables." and I stormed out the double doors before he could say anything else. I stopped at the bar to pick up the drinks, Jasper still had that look on his face as he pushed the tray toward me. He wasn't looking at me though, and I could guess who he was staring down.

"So it's safe to assume there are a few drinks missing here, right?" I smirked at him trying to keep it light, but it didn't work with him. He just nodded his head tightly so I walked away. Not that I was hurt or offended, it was just a little unnerving. I began counting the seconds until these losers left. I felt like once Jasper could relax, everyone else could too. So I went about my business, out of sight out of mind. I saw Emmett out of the corner of my eye head back there with a tray. I tried focusing on my tables, but I couldn't help overhear something about being banned, one more chance, or something like that.

On one hand, I was a little confused as to why everyone was uptight about this table. I mean, yeah they made me uncomfortable, but that comes with the territory. I guess if Jasper and Emmett hadn't been so weird about it, maybe I wouldn't have noticed. I would have just shook off the creeps they gave me and went about my business. Whether my boys were overreacting or not, I really didn't care, as long as those guys, especially the one super creep, kept away from me.

I looked back about thirty minutes later and saw the table empty, to which I was relieved. I headed back to the bar to rest. The orders had thinned out quite a bit, so there was a little more downtime. I sat at the end, stifling a laugh. Jasper was caught with three women who looked nearly 60, but dressed more like they were 20. As soon as he saw me, he did that 'rescue me' face. I laughed again, and let him struggle a bit more before I called him over.

"Whitlock! Get over here, I need this ticket fixed now." I said in my snippiest voice. I heard him apologize and come over to me with a smirk.

"Thanks for leaving me over there as long as possible!" He smirked. "I'll remember that next time you need my help." He was a bit more relaxed than earlier.

"Oh, you looked like you were handling yourself just fine, cowboy." I smirked back. I swear, how was it this man made me feel like a high school girl with a crush?

"So, what are your plans for tonight?" He asked, with a bit of mischief.

"Well Mr Whitlock," I said with my exaggerated southern belle accent, "a lady must be in bed at a decent time."

"Well darlin," he said leaning down closer to me, "seeing that you aren't much of a lady, I assume you'll be staying out late tonight." He grinned at his insult while I threw a bar towel at him in mock offense, laughing.

"Keep pushing you luck, mister." I laughed, walking away. I walked past the doors to the back and caught a glance of Emmett and Rose making out through one of the windows. Ick and eww. You never get used to seeing your brother kissing your friend. I went in to the bathroom at the back of the bar. It wasn't too bad of a mess, nothing that couldn't wait until tomorrow. I always hated having to stay later than necessary to clean the bathroom. I went to the farthest stall. While I was in there I heard someone come in, but then just silence. The room echoed bad, which was quite embarrassing if you had to take a long leak. And for the times I happened to be in there when someone had to revisit their last meal in reverse, I tried to get out as soon as possible. Retching is bad enough, I don't need to hear it with extra acoustics. Just in case that was what was coming, I hurried and finished, but when I opened the door, I was face to face with the guy from earlier. The one that couldn't keep his eyes off me. The one Emmett and Jasper were so upset about. And there I was, trapped in the bathroom with him. He slowly grinned with a mouthful of dirty, brown teeth, and I shuddered. I tried to scream, but I couldn't even move. I was absolutely frozen. I suppose it was a good thing I just went, because otherwise I would have been pissing all over myself.

"I've been waiting for you all night." He said slowly. His breath reeked of beer and cheap cigarettes.

_All night?_ Oh. He's waited for me. He never left. And then suddenly my brain decided to kick in. I grabbed at the stall door to slam it in his face, but of course he caught it. Then started walking toward me, walking me backward against the wall.

"JASP…." He cut me off with his hand slamming over my mouth, and the other one at my throat. He leaned over to my ear.

"That's not the name you're gonna be screaming tonight, sweetheart."

Desperate to get myself out of that situation any way possible, I started kicking and throwing punches wildly. I tried to knee him, but he was expecting it. He leaned all his weight against me to hold me down, which left me very little movement. I whimpered and could feel hot tears running down my face.

Suddenly there was a loud bang, and the next thing I knew the guy was ripped away from me. I took in a deep breath, shuddering, and slid down the wall to the floor. Jasper looked like an animal going after him. The guy didn't even have a chance, Jasper was throwing punches and kicks faster than I had ever seen. I knew he was looking to kill the guy, I just couldn't find it in me to care. Call me selfish, but knowing what would have happened to me if Jasper hadn't have come in, I would much rather have him dead. Emmett and Rose came running in at that point, Emmett pulling Jasper off the guy and Rose running over to check on me. Somehow after Jasper's beating, the guy was still able to stand up, but just barely.

"Get out James, before I let him go, because he _will_ kill you. And if I ever see you near my sister again, I'll kill you myself." Emmett said in a voice, I'm not sure I'd ever heard before. The guy, James, headed slowly towards the door, but turned around and took a leering look back at me through his one good eye, which had me cringing against Rose. Jasper struggled to get loose from Emmett, but Emmett held tight.

"I SAID LEAVE!" Emmett bellowed, to which the guy slammed his fists against the door as he limped out. Jasper still struggled against Emmett's hold with his eyes on the door. I knew if Emmett were to let him go, we would have a murder on our hands.

"Jasper, man," he said to him firmly, "you gotta calm down. You can't go after him. Look, Bella's alright, she's fine, he didn't hurt her." At those words he looked at me. The anger behind his eyes was so overwhelming, and knowing it was coming from him, our sweet Jasper, hurt me so much. He honestly looked like a wild animal, and I felt like I should have been frightened, but that's not what I was feeling at all. He eased a little once he met my eyes, but Emmett still held onto him.

"Bella." He breathed out. Rosalie stood up, pulling me with her. He took a step toward me and Emmett released his arms. He took two strides and pulled me into his arms. Oh, the safeness I felt with him holding me. That guy could still be right here in this room and I wouldn't care. So I just let everything go and started crying into his chest, and he never let me go. He just held me tight against him while I sobbed.

"Why don't you take her on home Jay. We can handle it from here." Emmett said softly. I felt him nod and start moving us towards the door. I peeked around him when we left the bathroom to see how many people were around. Just a few stragglers were left, no one noticed us. Jasper walked us through the back to the back door, holding tight to me the whole time. I grabbed my jacket and he led us out to his truck. I didn't even try to offer to drive my own car. I don't care how stubborn I was normally, right now I did not want to be alone. Nothing like this had ever happened to me, and I felt that I had the right to need someone right now.

"You ok?" he asked hesitantly as he started up the truck.

"I'm alright." I said. Which was true. I wasn't great, but everything seemed ok for right now. He must have sensed my hesitation because he took my hand and held it for the rest of the ride.

"I understand if you don't want to," Jasper started, "but do you want to just stay at my place tonight? I just figured with everything tonight, maybe you shouldn't be alone."

It usually wasn't a big deal for us to crash at each other's place, but usually it was when everybody had been together, had a bit too much to drink and didn't want to drive. This was a little different though. It was almost funny how nervous he seemed, but considering the circumstances, I didn't want make it harder on him.

"Actually, that would be great. Would you care to run me by my place real quick so I can get a couple things?" Jasper relaxed a bit and nodded. We stayed quiet and just listened to the radio the rest of the way. He walked me up waited on me in the living room while I got my overnight stuff. I left a quick note for Rose, assuming they would come here instead of Emmett's. We were on our way to Jasper's house within ten minutes. I was coming down from the adrenaline rush, and was suddenly feeling really tired. I let out a yawn, much bigger than I meant, and Jasper chuckled.

"A bit tired, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess." I smiled. "I had a rough night at work." He stiffened, but then let a small smile through. We were silent the rest of the ride.

By the time we got to his place, I had calmed down significantly, and had time to think logically through it. Of course it was scary, but it could have been worse. I didn't get hurt …...or violated. Ugh, just the thought sent chills down my spine. I knew that's what James' plan had been. His last words echoed in my head. But I was fine. Jasper saved me.

Wait.

_Jasper saved me._

Thoughts started swirling in my head. The way he had gotten so agitated with that table, without even being around them. In fact, nothing had even been said, just a lot of leering. It was like he _knew_ that guy James was trouble. Had he dealt with him before? And wait, hadn't I overheard Emmett telling them something about one more chance? So they had been there before. Yeah, that was right, Emmett recognized them.

I glanced over at him, and realized just how upset he seemed. This wasn't the Jasper I knew at all. My Jasper was calm and cool, never wound up like this. He always had a smile, never got upset, was always both calming and uplifting. But the way he was now, I don't think I had ever seen him like this in all the years I had known him. Of course, I'd seen him angry, but now, he just looked, I don't know, almost broken. Had tonight really upset him that much? Why?

We had been friends for years, so of course if he heard me scream, he would come to help. Anyone would, right? Or maybe that wasn't how he saw it. We had always been really close, we had, what I considered, an extremely special friendship. He honestly meant the world to me, and I would lay down my life for him without a second thought, but I had never thought he felt that strong about me. I could see him getting that crazy if Rose had been in my situation, but that's his sister. So wait, does that mean maybe he feels something more than friendship for me?

No way. I know we flirt with each other all the time, but he's just messing with me, right? Not that I have low self esteem, but he was way out of my league. I was lucky to just have him as a friend. But, would he get this crazy over someone that was just a friend?

I was driving myself crazy trying to analyze where I stood with him. Before I had a chance to put any more pieces together, Jasper pulled into his driveway. He remained silent, and still had that pained look on his face as we walked in. I waited till we got in and he locked the door back, and I stopped him in the entryway and placed my hand softly on the side of his face.

"Hey." I said softly as he looked down at me with hurt in his eyes. "Hey, I'm ok, aren't I?" He slowly nodded, still looking at me. "Ok, then, why aren't you?" He closed his eyes and released a staggered breath.

"I...I know what…...what could have…." He was struggling now. His brow was creased as he tried to get the words out. I placed my other hand on the other side of his face, more firmly.

"Yeah, but nothing did." I said forcefully. He opened his eyes to look at me. I softened my tone a bit. "Nothing did because you were there. You got to me in time. You saved me."

For what seemed like minutes, but I'm sure were only seconds, he locked eyes with me, and I could see the desperation and pain this man held. He felt guilty. And he had no reason to, but I could see in his eyes, saving me wasn't enough. In his eyes, I should have never been in the situation to be saved.

I don't know who pushed or pulled first, all I know is that in the next moment his lips were on mine. I don't remember it exactly, but I just remember it started slow, but the passion and longing behind it caused it to ignite quickly.

Now, I have never been one of those girls who ever kissed a guy and saw fireworks, it was always just kissing. No big deal. However, kissing Jasper Whitlock was not like kissing anyone else. When I was kissing him, time stopped, and nothing else mattered. My entire body tingled, and every nerve ending felt like it was on fire. There was no awkwardness, no having to get used to how he did it, there was only perfection. The only muddled thought I could think about was '_Why haven't I been kissing this boy my whole life?'_

As the kiss grew in intensity, I was vaguely aware of being pressed up against the wall, pressing him up against a wall, hands tangling in hair and pulling on clothes,moving down the hall and ending up in a different room, but I honestly don't think my lips ever left his. I just couldn't get enough, and neither could he. I remember at some point words being spoken, but again, I had no synchronized thought, I just remember bits and pieces, something about….

'_...waited so long...' _

'_...so beautiful...'_

'_...better than I ever dreamed…'_

'_...so good...'_

What I _do_ know, is that I was right where I wanted to be. I was in Heaven.

_Where was I? It was dimly lit, and I could hear water dripping. I could smell stale cigarettes and mouldy beer, a horrid combination. I could hear muffled voices and laughter, but I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. I tried moving, but my legs were just so heavy, I couldn't even move them. Then I felt arms wrap around my waist from behind, and felt hot breath on my neck._

"_You're mine now." The voice said, and I knew exactly who that voice belonged to._

"_No!" I tried to yell loudly, but it came out much softer than I wanted._

"_Oh yes, I've been waiting for you all night. Now you'll be screaming my name instead of his." He tightened his grip on me as I struggled more._

"_No! Jasper! Where are you? JASPER!" I was yelling louder now, but his grip on my waist just tightened, and he was shaking me now. _

"Bella! Bella, baby, wake up!" Jasper was yelling by the time I finally opened my eyes. I pulled away quickly, trying to get my bearings. I looked around, slowly recognizing his room, and then back to him, he was looking at me as if he was trying not to scare me off. My relief hit me hard, and I couldn't stop the tears. He pulled me into his arms shushing me. He didn't ask me about it, it didn't take a psychic to know what my nightmare had been about. My heart was starting to slow, as was my breathing.

"I'm sorry." I said in between sniffles. I was such a mess.

"Don't be sorry, you're entitled to a little PTSD." He said with a slight smile. That actually made me giggle a bit.

After washing my face off and mentally getting myself together, I crawled back into bed with Jasper, and fit back up against him, the way I did when we first fell asleep, although we weren't as tired now as we had been before. A glance at the clock told me we had only been asleep for a couple hours. So we talked.

And we talked about nearly everything.

We relived some of our early times together. We laughed about one of the first times we ever got really drunk together, and he confessed he tried to get up the nerve to kiss me all night, and was almost there when I ended up passing out. I cracked up thinking of him leaning in for a kiss, only to have the girl pass out in his lap.

Then we talked about when he had first found out about Rose and Emmett, and how if Em had just come to him instead of hiding it he wouldn't have been so mad. The way he found out, he thought Em and Rose were just friends with benefits, which was not cool where his sister was involved. Once he realized there was really something there between them, he cooled down, but was pretty hurt by the fact they didn't trust him enough to tell him. Their argument was that they wanted to see where it went before they told everyone, so if it didn't work out, there wouldn't be any awkwardness between him and Em.

"So what do you think Em's gonna say about us?" he asked.

"So you want there to be an _us_?" I couldn't keep that stupid grin off my face. I knew this wouldn't be a one-night thing, but hearing him say it just drove it home for me. As I looked over at him I saw how much he was smiling and his eyes, I swear, were sparkling.

"I'm pretty sure there has been an _us_ for awhile now, I just think we were too stupid to see it." He grinned even bigger before giving me a long, deep kiss.

"I completely agree." I sighed.

We continued the next few hours talking until the sky started slowly lightening up, when we finally drifted off to sleep.


End file.
